topic Re: Data Source Location in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Data Source Location

TerryJohnson1 — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:22:26 GMT

I've switched over to ArcGis Pro from Arc Map. I imported a map file and it all seems to converted correctly. However, I can find the path to my shape file but I can not find out where it is linked to to get the data for the map. I've read and tried several methods and I still can't find the path. Frustrating....

Re: Data Source Location

Eugene_Adkins — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:14:00 GMT

Here are a few ESRI based documentation sites.

For viewing/updating your data sources.

For adding a database connection.

For connecting to a folder.

Some of these share some loose similarities but a few of these aspects are very loosely associated as you’ve found out. Check out the documentation. It won’t take long for you to get used to it.

Re: Data Source Location

MervynLotter — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 15:45:07 GMT

Are you aware of the List by Data Source option under the Contents pane that shows the location of all your layers? Is this what you are looking for? It was also available in ArcMap.

Re: Data Source Location

TerryJohnson1 — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 17:38:48 GMT

I'm not a big user of ArcGis Pro. When I go to my contnts pane, I'm only seeing 4 icons. I'm not seeing the ones shown in your examplw above. How do I get the other icons to show up.

Re: Data Source Location

TerryJohnson1 — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:10:43 GMT

A new development. When I created a new map, all the icons in the content pain show up. However, when I import an old Arc Map, then several of the icons go away. Do you know why this happens and how do I get them back.

Re: Data Source Location

MervynLotter — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:32:18 GMT

It sounds like not all the layers are showing up in your Contents pane once you have imported a map from ArcMap? I have imported many maps from ArcMap over the years, and I don't recall that happening to me. The data should all be there and visible. Have you tried closing the map, then reopening it again? similarly, try shutting down Pro and reopening it as this may be a display glitch (I am grasping at straws here - just something I would try).

To shut down map

To open map from catalg pane.

Re: Data Source Location

Eugene_Adkins — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:44:14 GMT

There are a couple of suggestions given by users in this older post community post. Perhaps they may help, especially the ones given at 01-21-2022 06:54 AM and 01-21-2022 11:34 AM.

One suggestion (although this may be your current workflow), is to create a new Pro project, save it, and then import your ArcMap MXD.

Here is some additional information outside ESRI documentation that seems helpful. Keep in mind, documentation outside of ESRI will likely be "stuck" at available the Pro version(s) when the documentation was created, and this version of Pro may vary from the version you're using.